


hot off the press

by SydneyHorses



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, F/F, Immortal My Unit | Byleth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24655273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SydneyHorses/pseuds/SydneyHorses
Summary: Edelgard von Hresvelg runs a very successful independent newspaper. So what if she doesn't have time for love? And so what if she still obsesses over her college girlfriend from time to time? She's a businesswoman, and she's too busy exposing the corruption in the city  of Enbarr to have time for love.Or at least, so she thinks.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 3
Kudos: 111





	hot off the press

**Author's Note:**

> this was a request, and it ended up being such a joy to write! i had a really, really fun time with it and i hope you enjoy it!

There are many things about running a newspaper that speak to Edelgard. There’s the justice, the sense of righteousness, the look in her Uncle’s eyes every time she publishes an article against him. There’s the uplifting of voices and the sound of the printing press running. There's the feel of a well-written headline, the tilt of Hubert’s head when he has a particularly damning story.

She could go on.

Still, for every thing she loves about her job, there are, of course, things that are not quite as ideal. Interviews are often unproductive, and her Uncle sends less than subtle threats her way on a monthly basis. It’s a messy industry, far more so than she had first anticipated.

The _Enbarr Herald_ is a little newspaper, and so it only prints once a week. This means that every Friday is the worst and most stressful day of her life, and that Mondays are a blessed break. Mondays, she lets herself come into the office exactly five minutes late, and stops to get coffee for herself and Hubert on the way.

Today, though, when she arrives at five past nine, there’s something off. Caspar rushes up to her right when she strolls in, excitement practically radiating off of him.

“There’s someone here to see you,” he says, a wide grin on his face. “She says it’s about the Church of Seiros.” His camera is already around his neck, and she doesn’t manage to get a word in edgewise before he hustles out the door, off to do who-knows-what.

Sometimes she wishes she had slightly better control over her employees. This is why she shouldn’t work with her friends: they’re always going to be friends first and employees second.

She continues through the office, Dorothea falling into step beside her. “So, if you aren’t interested in our whistle-blower, I’d be happy to interview her. She’s stunning.”

“Dorothea,” Edelgard scolds. “You know I don’t consort with sources. No conflicts of interest.”

Her friend sighs, tossing a perfectly curled lock of brown hair over her shoulder. “I suppose. It seems rather dull, if you ask me.”

Edelgard rolls her eyes and continues walking. The sight outside her office, though, is enough to stop her in her tracks.

A woman is sitting there, in a too-short crop top and a pair of shorts. It’s… well, it’s not indecent. Logically, there’s nothing wrong with her outfit. Still, Edelgard’s collared dress feels stifling all of a sudden. “I - hello.” It’s funny, but this woman looks just like her ex-girlfriend. Foolish. Byleth is easily thirty by now, there’s no way she’d still look the same. It’s a coincidence, nothing more.

A very odd, very remarkable coincidence.

“Excuse me.” Edelgard lets her eyes rake over the younger woman’s form, a slight frown tugging at her lips. “I hate to ask, but do you have an older sister? You look… just like someone I used to know.”

The women with stunningly familiar mint green hair smiles like she knows a fantastic secret. It’s the same smile, and the same eyes, and the same pale silver scar from a game of beer pong gone wrong. It’s her. It has to be.

“El?”

-

The last time Edelgard let herself fall in love, she was in college. She had more free time and longer hair, and thought that being in love was as valuable as her future.

Some part of her still thinks that love is important, but she simply doesn’t have that kind of time anymore. Taking down a corrupt news organization and crooked politicians is busy work. Still, at the sight of Byleth, she’s thrown into a memory.

“El?” Byleth’s head is in her lap, their fingers tangled together.

Edelgard looks down at the girl in her lap and smiles. “Yes?” It’s finals week, and they have work they need to be doing, but she hasn’t gotten a single thing done since Byleth came over.

“What are we doing?” Byleth sounds so sad all of a sudden, and Edelgard sets her Economics textbook off to the side.

“We’re studying?” She asks, her voice small.

Byleth sits up. “We’re seniors, El. You’re going to go to grad school.”

This can’t be happening. Finals start in two days. This is the worst possible timing in the whole world. Edelgard swallows. “We’ll figure it out.”

Byleth sighs, a frown tugging at the corner of her mouth. “This was always going to be temporary. We talked about it.”

It’s true; they had. They’d talked about it the first night they’d met, at a terrible frat party Sylvain was throwing after making out in a coat closet. Edelgard had said she didn’t have time for a relationship, and Byleth had replied that she wasn’t looking for anything serious.

That had been two months ago.

Now, Edelgard’s heart is in her throat, and she nods, even as her face grows hotter and hotter. “You’re right. We did talk about it.” She presses her lips into a thin line and looks down at her lap.

“El,” Byleth’s voice is so soft, tinged with something almost like regret. “We didn’t want to do long distance, remember? This was just some fun before we graduate.”

Just some fun. Right. A wave of bitterness overcomes Edelgard, and she snaps her head up, locking eyes with Byleth. “Yes. That’s certainly true.” Her mouth twists, and she raises her chin, trying her best to sound haughty and not like her heart is breaking into pieces. “In that case, you’d best be going. I have studying to do.”

Byleth nods. Is Edelgard imagining the hint of sadness in her eyes? She must be. “Right. I’ll see you around.” Byleth’s words ring with finality, and she walks out of the room, closing the door with a heavy thud behind her.

-

Edelgard isn’t entirely sure how her interview with Byleth at the office turned into getting coffee, but it has. The two of them are at a small coffeeshop down the block, sitting at a circle table with oversized mugs in front of them. Soft music plays from the overhead speakers, and Edelgard wraps her hands around the warm mocha in front of her. There’s a heart drawn in the foam, and it makes her almost irrationally annoyed.

“So.” Byleth says, gesturing aimlessly with one of her hands. Even her gestures haven’t changed in the last eight years. Ridiculous. “I expect you have some questions.”

Edelgard tightens her grip on her mug. “To put it mildly.” She takes a sip of her drink, trying to rein in her curiosity. It’s no use - it's obvious Byleth isn’t going to offer up the information she wants without some prompting. “Why do you look the same?”

“Ah. Yes.” Byleth’s mouth twists. “That.”

“That,” Edelgard echoes flatly.

Byleth sighs. “It’s complicated. I didn’t know when we were together.”

“That, what?” Edelgard gestures at Byleth, feeling helpless for the first time in a long while. “That you were going to look like this eight years down the line? Have you gotten even a day older?”

“Well,” Byleth says hesitantly. “Sort of? I stopped aging a few months after we graduated.” She sighs. “Not… too long after I started working for the Church of Seiros.”

Edelgard can’t help it. She leans forward, a devious glint in her eyes. “Oh?” 

Byleth takes a sip of her coffee. “I almost died, and their leader - Rhea - saved my life.”

Exactly what has Byleth been up to in the eight years since Edelgard has seen her? She tips her head to the side, touching a hand to her cheek. “And that… what, stopped you from aging? You can’t expect me to believe that.”

Byleth shrugs. “Then you explain it.”

She can’t. Byleth must know that. But there has to be something more logical than the cult she’s trying to take down being able to stop people from aging. It’s preposterous. Edelgard purses her lips. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s the truth.” Byleth’s voice is infuriatingly mild, whereas Edelgard’s head is a whirlwind of questions.

“I see.” Edelgard says coldly. “You’ll have to excuse me. I have another meeting I’d forgotten about. Please come back to the office if you’d still like to give us information about the Church of Seiros. I’m sure Hubert would be very interested in your statement.”

-

The others are wise enough not to bring up the mysterious young woman who’d shown up, or how Edelgard had already seemed to notice her. Hubert glowers at everyone who even looks like they’re thinking about asking, and for once, she finds herself grateful for his over-protectiveness.

Still, even Hubert isn’t enough to stop the force that is Dorothea Arnault.

Three days after Byleth appeared in the building, Dorothea bursts into her office without knocking, throwing herself into the chair across from Edelgard with a smug grin on her face. “Okay. Enough is enough. Who is she?”

Edelgard lifts her head. “Who?”

Dorothea tsks. “Don’t play dumb, Edie. You know who I’m asking about. That woman who showed up at the office! You looked like you’d seen a ghost when you saw her!”

For a moment, Edelgard had thought that she had. She shrugs. “Someone from college. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Dorothea throws her heads in the air. “I see some lady, looking like _that,_ and you looking at her like you want to pounce, and I’m not supposed to worry about it!” She shakes her head emphatically. “And she looks, what, ten years younger than you? How do you know her from college!”

Edelgard’s mouth twists. “It’s complicated.” She taps a fingernail against the wood of her desk, then saves the file she’d had open and shuts her laptop. “We dated in college, and she looked the exact same then as she does now. She explained it, but it… didn’t make much sense.” Edelgard sighs. “I’m not sure what to make of it myself.”

Dorothea leans forwards, resting her chin on her hands. “That’s certainly strange. And you haven’t talked to her since.”

“No.” Edelgard tries her best not to sound glum, but she’s not sure if she succeeds. “She hasn’t even come back to give us her statement about the Church.” She pushes her computer to the side and slumps forward, resting her head on her forearms. “I ruined a lead _and_ the possibility of having a date for the first time since Hilda.”

Dorothea leans forward and pats the top of Edelgard’s had. “Now, now Edie. There will be other leads. It’s all going to be alright.”

-

It’s Friday, which means that the office is a mess. Linhardt stayed up all night finishing revisions on an article, and is fast asleep in his chair, snoring softly. Bernadetta’s finishing up the layout for everything that's finished. Last she checked, Caspar was still editing his photos. Edelgard feels as though she could tear her hair out, but then again, that’s what every Friday is.

It’s so busy that Edelgard doesn’t notice Byleth standing in the middle of the room, holding a bouquet of carnations, until she runs right into her.

Edelgard falls backwards, the stack of papers she’s holding falling to the floor. “Crap!” She scrambles onto her knees, frantically trying to shove everything back into a pile. Their layout is due in three hours, which means that she needs to be working. Byleth crouches down next to her, still holding the bouquet.

“Here, let me.” She picks up the last of the files, then hands them to Edelgard.

Edelgard stands, hugging her paperwork to her chest. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Byleth looks around the room, taking in the bags under Ferdinand’s eyes and Bernadetta’s terrified expression. “What’s going on?

“We ship out new issues Friday afternoons,” Edelgard explains. “The paper comes out every Saturday.”

“Oh.” Byleth’s expression dims. “Then it’s not a good time for me to ask you for another chance to explain things?”

Edelgard presses her lips together, taking in the flowers and the painfully earnest expression on Byleth’s face. “Well. No. But… if you still wanted to talk about the Church and about… other aspects of it. Our deadline is in three hours. Come back then?”

A small smile crosses Byleth’s face. “I can make that work.”

**Author's Note:**

> stan edelgard and come talk to me on twitter @edelgardlesbian or on tumblr @edelgardlesbians


End file.
